The first American Horror Story: Cult trailer is … interesting
The story for the show this season feels a little bit easier to identify. The setting is Michigan, in the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election. This was a key state that helped Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and clearly Sarah Paulson’s character is not happy about what happened. The scene of her reacting to his way feels intentionally comical and over-the-top, which may be a part of what some angry Trump supporters are not seeing when they watch this. We don’t exactly think that Cult is meant to be pro-Trump by any means, but our feeling is that the tongue is at least partially in cheek for much of this season of the show.
Beyond this declaration, things start to get a little more off the rails. Twisty the Clown has a presence, at least in the form of comics and action figures, and in between his history and the division caused in the aftermath of the election, craziness is going to start to ensue. Evan Peters is playing some sort of zealous punk-rocker with blue hair who also seems to like to do unspeakable things to his television. Meanwhile, Alison Pill is playing the girlfriend or wife to Paulson’s character. These two are trying to live a normal existence, but realize before long that this isn’t going to be quite possible for them. They have both visions of terrible things and then actual terrible things happening at the same time. Billie Lourd and Cheyenne Jackson will each round the cast out, as well.
The difficult with making this season is that you fall victim to many preconceived notions. There are going to be some inevitably out there who look at this show and feel as though it’s being intentionally preachy. Meanwhile, there are others who are going to look at it and think that it’s just dipping back into American Horror Story: Freak Show too much with all of the clown imagery. We just think that the show needs its own identity and needs to focus on creativity and getting in some good scares. The feeling that we would be the most concerned about is if some out there watch the show and choose to feel as a result of it that it’s just trying to enforce a specific agenda. The irony there is that this show looks to examine the horrors that can come out of people banding together to enforce and spread a viewpoint, at times on the level of propaganda. The show shouldn’t intentionally do anything to divide people even more than they already are.
Now, your thoughts
Do you think that the American Horror Story: Cult trailer makes you more or less excited for the new season to air? Be sure to share in the attached comments below right now!
Meanwhile, be sure to check out some other updates on the series. (Photo: FX.)